The Test
by Fangirl140
Summary: Starscream is back and is set on taking out the Jettwins. But with their leader constantly overworking them, would they stand a chance against the seeker? Enjoy! R
1. Chapter 1

Jetfire and Jetstorm flew through the polluted air of Detroit as they continued their patrols over the city. Decepticon activity had been slow, no battles for almost eight orbital cycles, or eight days in human language, but Sentinel Prime believed that they should still run daily patrols for precaution. The twins hated it though, mostly because they were the only ones who actually had to do it for megacycles (hours) on end. The others did it for maybe one megacycle, and they'd go out and have to patrol for maybe three or four megacycles. However, since Sentinel was their leader, they had to obey his every command.

"Jetfire, Jetstorm, report!" Sentinel said through the transmission.

"No Decepticons are being sighted Sentinel Prime, sir!" Jetstorm replied.

"Yes…it is being very quiet!" Jetfire chimed in. They heard a huff on the other side of the link as their leader thought for a moment which surprised the two because he rarely ever thinks. Usually, he just jumps right in with anything, but not this time.

They heard him sigh, "Yes…too quiet. Well, just in case…maybe you should stay out there for a little while longer-"Jetfire almost groaned when he heard Jazz's voice in the background.

"Sentinel, are you jiving me?" the ninja-bot exclaimed, "Those two have been out there for way too long! They need a break…" The twins transformed into their robot forms as they listened to the link. Jetstorm could feel the hope radiating from his brother through their bond while they waited.

"Excuse me…are you the leader of this team?" There was silence, "Nope, didn't think so! Those two will stay out there for as long as I want them to until I think that everything's fine outside! You got that?" Footsteps…Jazz was walking away, and that crushed the twins. No break for them now. When the transmission was ended, Jetstorm looked up at his brother who was barely hovering in the air. They were both tired and wanted to go back to the Autobot's base to relax, but they couldn't. They got their orders and were expected to follow them.

The blue bot patted his brother on the shoulder, "Come on brother…we should be going." He transformed but didn't fly off as he waited for his orange twin. He didn't transform or make any indication that he was going to follow him though. He just floated there in mid-air. Sadness drifted from the orange bot to Jetstorm as he remained silent. The blue bot let out a sigh before transforming once again and turning to his brother.

"Brother…I want to go back," Jetfire whispered as he stared at the ground that was thousands of feet below him, "I am not wanting to patrol anymore…if we are still, then I may be falling out of sky because of exhaustion." Jetstorm's faceplate softened before he hugged his brother who happily hugged him back.

"I am knowing brother. I am being tired too, but we are having to keep patrolling, or Sentinel Prime may separate us again for disobeying orders…" he explained, "…and I am not wanting for him to do that. Besides, if you are falling, you are knowing that I will be catching you…I am promising." The orange bot smiled up at his brother before nodding his head. Another megacycle passed before they finally got the call from Sentinel that said they could go back. Apparently, due to much arguing and chewing out of the leader, he gave into the other Autobot's pleas for him to allow them time to relax.

Joy spread throughout both twins as they flew with the strength they had left to the Autobot's base. They thanked Primus more times that cycle than any other time in their lives. As they flew off, a figure made himself known behind them, but neither of their sensors went off. The maroon colored jet hovered there for a second, his arms crossed in front of his chestplating. A low chuckle escaped his lips when the twins continued flying down towards the city, already a hundred-fifty feet away.

"Looks like these two twin turbos are back…Cybertron's secret weapon? I'll be the judge of that…"and with that, he flew away. Starscream had been watching them for quite awhile, and he realized that they stayed out for almost four megacycles a day, and when they were done, they were too weak to even fly at their top speeds. It would have been a perfect time for him to attack them, but the Autobots would be expecting them, and if they didn't return when they should, they would know something was wrong. The sky above him was beginning to darken as the sun began to set. Tomorrow, he would make his move; tomorrow, he would destroy the Jettwins.

Landing was killer for the twins. As soon as their stabilizing servos hit ground, they both almost collapsed, but they supported one another before walking into the base.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead sat on the make-shift couch in the living room playing video games, Eli sitting atop the arm of the chair, while Sentinel, Optimus, and Ratchet stood near the computers talking about "older bot" business, and the ninja bots of the team were nowhere to be found.

_Brother…can we be going back to room? I am wanting to recharge…_Jetfire asked his brother through the bond. The blue bot nodded his head in approval before walking through the room and to the doorway that led to the main hallway. No one acknowledged them as they were too "busy" to do so, but as the twins were beginning to make their way into the hallway, a booming voice echoed off the walls of the entire base.

"JETFIRE! JETSTORM! Where do you cogs think you're going?" Sentinel exclaimed, causing the twins to jump. They spun around on their heel struts to face their leader.

"We were going back to our room…sir…" Jetstorm explained as the two jets continued to hold each other up. At this point, Eli decided to finally look up. She also smirked when she noticed that the twins were going to get chewed out…again, but something made her stop. Further analysis of the two bots showed that they were on the verge of breaking down before all of them.

"Stand up straight!" Sentinel commanded, "And why are you not saluting? Aren't I a higher ranking then you?" _Brother…I cannot, _Jetfire whimpered in his thoughts. "Are you two listening to me? Do you want me to separate you again?" Two pairs of optics widened in fear at that last statement. At that moment, being separated was the last thing either one of them wanted. _Brother…we are having to…_Jetstorm replied, looking at his brother apologetically. Both attempted to stand at attention, finally succeeding, but neither could stop the trembling that overtook their systems. This didn't please their hotheaded leader at all. "Will you two quit your shaking? You're seriously asking for it, aren't you?" They shook their heads as they tried to still their body frames.

Eli hopped off the couch before crossing the room to Optimus. She tapped him on his shoulder before he finally turned around to look at her, "Yes Eli…what is it?"

"Optimus, you need to go over there," she gestured to the three bots near the hallway, "and get Sentinel to stop…those two are in no condition to be yelled at." The red and blue firetruck looked over at the said bots.

"Look, Eli…they aren't my officers, they're Sentinel's…and I can just walk over there and tell Sentinel what to do. You know how he gets," he explained, "Besides, those two can handle-"

"Brother!" All bots in the room turned their heads towards the twins before gasping. Jetfire was passed out on the ground while Jetstorm weakly held him in his arms, and he looked as if he was about to faint too. He did his best to not black out as fatigue hit him like a swinging fist from an oversized Decepticon. Eli and Ratchet quickly ran over to them, Sentinel just watching as they carried the two twins to the medbay, but the pink bot didn't leave without a final glare to the twin's leader.

Ratchet laid Jetfire down on one of the berths, Jetstorm the other before beginning a systems check. Eli stood in the corner, watching the medbot work. Every now and then, her gaze would fall on the blue twin whose pained form would almost bring oil tears to her optics. She didn't notice as Ratchet started speaking when she saw something outside the window.

"Eli?" She shook her head to release her from the daze she was under before gazing up at Ratchet.

"I'm sorry, Ratchet," she apologized, "What did you say?" She looked back out the window but realized whatever was there before was now gone.

"I said that they should be fine after a nice recharge," he replied, "Damn Sentinel overworked them today. Do you remember how long they were out?" She shook her head,

"No. I don't remember an exact time, but I know they were gone for several hours." He shook his head in disapproval, gesturing for her to follow him.

"Come on…we should leave them here to rest. Right now, we need to go talk to that aft-head Sentinel," he growled, but she didn't follow right away. She walked over to Jetstorm before pressing a light kiss to his forehead. Turning on her heel struts, she walked out of the room with Ratchet. When they stepped into the main room, they realized that Sentinel was already having a nice chat with Optimus and the two ninja bots.

"You what?" Optimus questioned.

"You heard right," Jazz said, "Sentinel, here, made those two stay out there for four megacycles. I tried to get him to allow them to come back, but he wouldn't listen!" Said bot glared at the white ninja bot.

"Look, those two need to understand what it's going to be like later in their lives," he explained, "They're going to have to patrol for megacycles on end! I'm just preparing them!"

"But they're just young bots Sentinel," Ratchet shouted from the doorway, causing the other bots to turn to him, "They can't handle that kind of work! Yes, they're young, like I said before, so they should have more energy than us older bots, but they just got thrown into all this war business without warning. You need to lay off of them a bit."

"I don't need to do anything," Sentinel sneered, "They're my officers, and they do what I tell them! I don't need to listen to you!"

"Sentinel," Eli cut in, "If you don't stop overworking those two, you aren't going to have any officers to do your damn work! You'll offline them by the end of the orbital cycle(for those of you who forgot what that means…its day)! They can't take it…"

"Shut your mouth!" the arrogant leader exclaimed, "I don't need some weakling femme telling me how to take care of my officers! Now, why don't you just walk away and leave all this to the big mechs?" Eli ground her dental plating. He was seriously asking for it. "Go on…go play video games with your friends over there like the good little femme you are!" That was the last straw. In a matter of nano-kliks, Eli had Sentinel pinned on the ground, his face in the floor, and his arms held behind his back by the pink bot. Everyone stared in shock at what just happened, and Bumblebee and Bulkhead did their best not to laugh.

"Go ahead and say that last line for me Sentinel because I swear, I'll fricking rip your arms out of their sockets!" she threatened through gritted dental plating.

"Cog, I'll have you court marshaled for this! Now let me go!" She put more pressure on his arms, both ready to give up and snap from their wiring, but Ratchet and Optimus quickly grabbed the bot before she could completely tear him limb from limb. Sentinel stood up, glaring at the femme. "Why you little glitch! I could have you arrested for assaulting an officer!"

"Well, you should be arrested because what you are doing to the twins is a type of abuse! I'm pretty sure they have laws against that on Cybertron, right?" Eli struggled against Ratchet's grip as she tried to break free, so she could beat the living slag out him, but the medbot kept a firm servo on her.

"You'd better control your team Optimus," Sentinel said, looking up at the red and blue bot, "or I swear, I'll lock them up faster than you can say protoform!" With that, he stalked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Ratchet released Eli who rubbed her arms where he had held her.

"Eli, what were you thinking?" Optimus asked, "You know better than to do that!" She shook her head.

"I'm sorry Optimus, but he was seriously asking for it!" she exclaimed.

"That may be, but it doesn't give you the right to go attacking other bots!" She muttered a whatever under her breath before walking out of the room to her bedroom.

"By Primus, what are we going to do about those two?" Ratchet asked aloud.


	2. Chapter 2

Eli slumped down onto her berth while staring at the door to her room. She knew in any nano-klik that someone was going to knock on her door, and she was going to have to sit through another crappy lecture for a megacycle before she'd be allowed to recharge. _Knock, knock, knock._ Just in time.

"Come in…" she called, crossing her arms in front of her chestplating. She was expecting either Optimus or Prowl to walk in, but instead, the red and white medibot walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Eli, we need to talk…"

"I know what you're going to say," she interrupted, "You're going to tell me that what I did was irresponsible, and unwise, and I should've thought reasonably before completely slagging Sentinel in front of the whole team…blah, blah, blah…"

"No, that's not what I was going to say," he said, a smile stretching across his faceplating. _Wait, a smile…_she thought, _Why is he smiling?_ "I was going to tell you good job…although Optimus wouldn't approve of your actions, I would…we all know that Sentinel had it coming. You were just the first who had enough courage to actually disobey him. Now, Optimus thinks I'm in here yelling at you and telling you what you did was wrong…so if he asks, I did exactly that."

"Yes sir."

"Well, I'll let you get your rest now…don't want you to end up like the twins." Eli weakly smiled as he left the room. She felt so bad for the twins. Every day they have to work for that idiot leader Sentinel, and how they've even survived for so long with him was a surprise to her. Lying down on her berth, she shut the lights off and offlined her optics.

Jetstorm's optics were the first ones to online that morning as the sun streamed through the open window of the medbay. He sat up, rubbing his head as a processor ache made itself known. Looking over at his brother, he realized that Jetfire was still deep in recharge. It warmed his spark to see a smile on his faceplating, especially after everything that happened the previous orbital cycle. Recharge was the only place the twins could actually find peace and not have to worry about hearing their leader's voice screaming orders at them.

The blue bot stood, holding tightly to the berth as he tried not to fall. He checked his systems data before realizing that he had been in recharge for almost twelve megacycles, and yet, he still felt exhausted. Wait…no, his brother. He was still feeling the effects of his brother's exhaustion because of their bond. How could he forget? Stepping next to his brother's berth, he lightly brushed a digit across the orange twin's faceplating, his other servo intertwining with his brother's. The smile on his brother's face grew bigger before yellow optics came back online to look at him.

_Good morning, brother, _Jetfire greeted through their bond. The blue twin smiled,

_Good morning to you too…you are feeling better, yes? _His twin nodded.

"Well, looks like you two are feeling better now seeing as you're not stumbling and clinging to each other like last night…" Both turned their heads to see the red and white medibot walking in.

"Yes, Mr. Ratchet, sir. We are feeling much better…" Jetfire replied, sitting up on the berth, but he quickly leant forward, gripping his head tight in between his servos. Jetstorm felt the effects from his brother as a massive processor ache overtook his systems. He winced but shook it off as he helped his brother.

"Jetfire, you alright?" Ratchet asked as he moved to the other side of the berth, "Maybe I should do another scan just to make sure you didn't receive any permanent damage." The orange twin shook his head, and Jetstorm could feel the pain disappearing.

"It is being okay Mr. Ratchet, sir," he said, straightening his back as he sat up, "It is being better now…" The medibot looked at the twin a little concerned.

"No, I really think I should do another test. You never know. It may be gone now, but it may come back later-"

"Oh will you just leave him alone. He's fine!" The twin's leader walked into the medbay, his servos on his hips as he glared at Ratchet. "Like you said, they just needed some recharge, and now that they got it…" He turned to the twins, "…you have another patrol this morning, so you'd better get a move on it, or I'll double it!" The red and white bot stared at Sentinel in disbelief. Jetfire and Jetstorm just got over the effects of total exhaustion because of their patrols, and now he was making them do more? Either he was just a total idiot, or he had a black hole where his spark was supposed to be.

"Sentinel, you can't be serious!" Ratchet exclaimed, "As the medibot here, I suggest you let them have the orbital cycle off. They need a break from all the work you've been dumping on them!" The twins nodded their heads, hoping their leader would listen to reason, but of course, he didn't.

"You are not my designated medibot! Red Alert, and Perceptor are," he growled, "I don't need to listen to your 'suggestions.' These two are my officers, so just. Back. Off." Ratchet shut his mouth. He didn't want to, but he did. Sentinel smirked at the medibot's silence before he returned his gaze to the twins who were both looking down at the ground in distress. He glared at them, "Jetfire! Jetstorm! What are you still doing here? Get going!" They didn't hesitate. Jetfire hopped off the berth before he followed his blue twin out the doors of the medbay. Sentinel left soon after they had, going back to his own room, and Ratchet could only shake his head.

He was much older than that bot, but he couldn't do anything to him to stop him from what he was doing to those two young bots. He slammed his servo onto the berth that Jetfire had occupied before as he let out a yell frustration.

_XXXXX_

Eli lay on her back on the make shift couch in the main room of the base. She was always the first one awake. She even beat Prowl every morning, but it was mostly because she loved to watch the sunrise in the morning. The array of colors always fascinated her, and she always wondered how something so natural could be so beautiful. Now, she was in the main room, the TV on as she waited for the others to wake up. Hopefully, Sentinel wouldn't walk in because no one was there to stop her from slagging him if he did, and as much as she wanted to do it, she just knew she couldn't.

A yell reached her audio receptors as it echoed off the walls of the building. She looked up, _That sounded like Ratchet. _She stood up, walking towards the opening in the wall that led to the hallway, but she let out a yelp as she was tackled to the floor. She shuttered her optics a few times before she caught sight of blue and orange metal. She sat up, and Jetfire and Jetstorm were already standing up now.

"Eli, we are being very sorry," the blue twin apologized as he offered his servo. She took it, smiling as she stood up on her stabilizing servos.

"It's fine," she said, brushing some dust off her body, "but you two should really pay attention to where you're going." She looked up, but they were gone. She shook her head, spinning around in a circle to find them, but they were nowhere to be found. "What the Pits? I'm pretty sure I didn't just imagine that, or is my processor playing tricks on me? No, no it's not…"

"You know, you really should stop talking to yourself." She jumped as she looked up to find Prowl and Jazz standing in the doorway in front of her, "Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity," he joked. She slightly glared at him, a smile still on her faceplating.

"No, it's when you start answering yourself that you really have to worry…" she replied, causing the two ninja bots smirk.

"Umm…" Jazz reluctantly said, "I think you were answering yourself…" She opened her mouth to reply, but she stopped.

"Oh Primus…I guess I am going crazy!" she screamed. They shook their heads.

"So where did those twins run off to?" the white ninja bot asked as he looked over her shoulder. He was pretty sure he had seen them run into the room. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't know," but she quickly looked back up at them, "They did run in her right?" Prowl nodded his head, and she let out a sigh of relief, "Good, then I'm not going crazy. Again, I don't know. They ran in here, ran into me, said sorry then disappeared. I seriously have no idea where they went."

"Sentinel sent them on another patrol…" The three bots turned to see Ratchet, "…that aft-head doesn't understand that those two need a break…"

"Are you serious?" Eli screamed, "He's seriously going to kill them! If they offline, I'll kill him! No one will stop me, I'm making it my goal to slag him!"

"Eli, relax," Prowl calmly stated, resting a servo on her shoulder, "Those two aren't going to offline any time soon. Don't worry about them…they'll be fine, but I really think we should talk to Sentinel about this. Too much work for those two could seriously hurt them." They nodded, and Ratchet stepped out of the way of doorway, so the two ninja bots could walk by. Eli tried to follow, but the medibot put up a servo to stop her.

"Sorry, Eli, I can't let you come with us," he said, and she was just about to start yelling at him when he continued, "I want you to go find those two and keep an optic on them. Jetfire seems to be the most likely to receive more damage from this, so if anything goes wrong, just call me, and I'll be there as soon as I can." She let out a huff, crossing her arms in front of her chestplating before nodding her head. He walked off, following Prowl and Jazz to the twin's leader's room. She transformed into her jet mode and flew out the doorway of the base, taking to the skies as she searched for the twins.

_XXXX_

_Brother, are you remembering how long our patrol is being today?_ Jetfire asked his twin as they flew over Sumdac tower for the fiftieth time that morning. There was no reply because Jetstorm had no idea. He assumed it would be two megacycles like it usually was supposed to be, but ever since Sentinel started adding megacycles onto their patrols, he really didn't know anymore.

Eli followed them from a safe distance as she "kept an optic on them." She had a feeling they knew she was there though because of her energy signal. It should have given her away the second she found them, but neither bot made any effort to let her know that they knew she was there, so she just kept quiet and continued flying. Jetfire wasn't going his normal speed, and it worried her. He had to still be so tired from the previous night's patrol. Sentinel was a…what was that human word?...bastard. Yeah, Sentinel was a bastard. She swerved to the right as she flew around a building, going in the opposite direction of the twins. She'd meet them on the other side again, but when she cleared the structure, they were nowhere to be found.

She checked her scanners, knowing that they couldn't have gotten far considering Jetfire's weakened state, but not even her scanners could pick up their energy signals.

"AHH!" Her spark stopped. She recognized that yell anywhere. _Jetstorm_…She accelerated, following the screams, but they soon stopped. That made her more worried. When he was screaming, she knew he was still online, but now that he had stopped, he had to be…No! She couldn't think that. Finally, her scanners started beeping as two dots on the screen formed, and she flew to the location that was on her screen. She landed on top of the building, standing above the area the twins were supposed to be.

"Jetfire! Jetstorm!" she called their designations, "Where are you two?" No answer. She jumped down from the building, landing on the ground. They were close. That was what her scanners were telling her, but the alley she was in was dark. Even in the daylight, it was still as dark as Pits. She walked further down the alley before she stepped in something wet. She looked down, expecting it to be a puddle of water, but this liquid wasn't murky nor clear. It was pink. She followed the puddle till she came to the broken body of a blue and yellow bot, a orange bot identical to it lying on the ground to him.

"Jetstorm! Jetfire!" She quickly ran to them, kneeling down next to the orange bot. She touched his shoulder, "Jetfire" she looked up at the blue bot, "…Jetstorm, please wake up! Don't be offline, please…"

"They're not offline…yet…" She turned before a servo struck her across the face. The same servo wrapped around her neck before she was lifted off the ground. She could hear the sounds of his null rays being charged as he aimed them at her chestplating.

"Starscream…" she choked. He smiled, and the blast struck her.

**Chapter two done! Thank Primus! I've been having terrible writer's block, but I finally got it written, but when I was just about to post it, my computer got a virus! I was computerless, and fanfictionless for three days! Yeah, it doesn't seem like a lot, but oh hell! It is for me! Anyways, next chapter will be about what happened to Jetstorm and Jetfire when Eli lost them. I'll do my best to get it written and posted! Hope you like it! Thank you for reading, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

They were just rounding the building, and the twins were getting sick and tired of patrols. However, they couldn't exactly argue with their leader, or else…well, it would just be bad. Why they refused to just stop listening to him was unknown to them. All he ever was, was a pain. He was arrogant, and he was a total jerk. Caught up in his thoughts, Jetstorm wasn't expecting the ray that clipped his brother's side, a jolt of pain running through his circuitry as the true agony Jetfire was feeling washed over him through their bond. Transforming, he gripped the right side of his chestplating, just under his shoulder, as he winced. His brother had done the same as him, but he was barely hovering in the air by the jets on his pedes, his body leant against the side of the building that seemed to go on forever.

_Brother…_Jetstorm flew over to his twin, positioning an arm around his brother's waist as he supported him, but just barely. A deep, evil laughter drifted on the breeze surrounding them at the high altitudes, and both heads lifted before their optics widened. How did their scanners not detect _him_? His servos were placed on his hips, his maroon colored body straightened as he stood proud.

"Now, I thought you two were going to make this difficult," Starscream mocked them. "It seems I was wrong. You two can't possibly be made from my codings; you're too weak!"

"I am thinking we are not being made from same codings too because we are being much better looking you are!" Jetstorm shot back. Starscream growled, and another ray was shot at the twins, but they quickly flew upwards, evading the attack, but Jetfire was taking enough damage by just moving, so there was no way they would be able to use Safeguard. They kept flying though, doing their best to get away. Jetstorm stopped, turning around to see Starscream closing in on them, but he was flying slower than usual. He was playing with them. He turned to Jetfire whose servo was gripping the area over his chestplating that had been stripped of metal, the energon blood seeping through the spaces between his digits.

_ Please go…_Jetstorm begged his brother. _You are being too wounded to be fighting. Calling Jazz, and be telling him that we are needing much assistance! _ Jetfire shook his head rapidly, becoming dizzy as he did so. He gripped his side tighter, the energon coming faster.

_I am not leaving you! _He yelled through their bond, his optics offlined as he hissed, boring through the pain that was traveling through his wiring. It was just one blow, but there was more punch behind that blast; it was something bad, and he wasn't leaving his twin to fight by himself. Jetstorm let out a groan,

_Brother, please! I cannot be watching you and be fighting at the same time! You are needing to get to safety…I will be being fine! _Jetfire nodded his head reluctantly, just about to fly off when he watched his brother's optics widen like before. _Brother, be watching out! _He turned his head slowly, and Jetstorm did the only thing he could think of. He pushed his orange twin to the side, and the blast connected full blast with his chestplating, and he crashed onto the roof below him. His vision was blurry, but he could barely make out his twin as he fought Starscream head on, firing his flamethrowers at the seeker at close range. It was too close, and Jetfire was too weak to keep going. He stood up, his stabilizing servos threatening to give way. He ignored the pain in his broken frame; he ignored the pain his brother was transferring to him not by his own choice and took off into the sky. He wasn't going to let that Decepticon hurt his brother any further. Starscream had his back to him, and his servo was wrapped around his brother's neck. He could feel exactly what his brother was feeling as the servo tightened.

Jetstorm was letting the anger he was feeling blind him, and he slammed his servo into the seeker's wing, the metal of his servo digging through the circuitry of Starscream's wings. A scream broke through the gentle wind as he yelled out in agony. One of the worst things that could ever happen to a seeker or flying robot was having their wings broken. However, he had learned how to handle flying with one wing; one would think it was impossible, but he had learned. He kept his grip on Jetfire's neck before spinning around, Jetstorm's fist breaking free from the metal confines of his wing. He slammed the orange bot into his twin, and they both went flying backwards, and activating his null rays, he set it to its highest setting, aiming at the two Autobots who had found their balance as they hovered. He fired. The agonizing screams that ripped past the twins vocal wiring was beautiful to him, an evil grin spreading across his faceplating.

Starscream had fixed his null rays to where it would just keep a continuous ray going, and as he hovered closer, the yells and shouts got louder, and it pleased him. Finally, the screams began to fade as the twin's voices became hoarse, and their vocal wirings gave out. Stopping the ray as soon as they quieted, Jetfire and Jetstorm fell out of the sky, landing hard on the ground in the alley below. He flew down to the building just above them, gazing down at their broken frames as they writhed on the cold, wet ground, their bodies trembling under the pain. _Beep. Beep. Beep. _His optics wandered to the scanner on his arm as another dot appeared on the screen. _Where did that come from? _He thought to himself. From the energy signal, he could tell it was another Autobot, and considering the fact that this bot was somewhere in the sky, it had to be that femme they kept around: Eli. She and the twins were the only ones who could fly, so she was the only suitable choice.

Hopping down into the alley, he hid in the darkest corner he could find but still had a perfect view of the twins. "Jetfire! Jetstorm!" The femmes high pitched voice echoed off the walls of the alley, "Where are you two?" He could see her standing atop the building he had vacated not only cycles before. Not receiving an answer, she hopped down from the building, landing hard on her pedes as she hit the ground. Starscream watched as her eyes widened at the sight of the energon blood on the ground, following the stream to where he knew the bodies of those two Decepticon wannabes to be.

"Jetstorm! Jetfire!" She bolted over to the unconscious twins, kneeling down besides Jetfire as she touched his shoulder plating. The panicked look on her face was amusing to see, the worry mixing with the emotion. He quietly stepped out of his corner, making his way over to the pink femme bot on the ground. "Jetfire…" she lightly pushed on the orange twin's frame before turning to the other, "…Jetstorm, please wake up! Don't be offline, please…" He stood a few feet behind her,

"They're not offline…yet…" Eli spun around, and Starscream brought out his servo and struck her. She flew a good two feet before landing on her side. He didn't even give her enough time to react as he wrapped his servo around her neck, constricting the wiring that made up the area. He lifted her off the ground, her pedes dangling in mid-air. He lifted his null rays to her chestplating while he charged them for another blast; a blast that was to be delivered at point blank.

"Starscream…" He smirked, and the light grew brighter before the ray demolished the plating on her chest. She fell unconscious, her head lolling back and her body going limp. He dropped her to the ground, and her body crumpled at the contact, the metal scraping across the dirt covered cement. The maroon colored seeker walked back over to the twins, picking them up into his arms before he flew into the sky. She could die for all he cared. She was going to slowly bleed out, and it wouldn't be long before she'd offline. It would be good for him; one less Autobot in the universe to offline.

_Forty-five cycles later_

"Has anyone heard from Eli?" Optimus asked as he walked into the main room, his servo over his audio receptor as he tried to call the only femme on his team. Several of the bots in the room shook their heads, muttering things like, "She took off this morning," or, "She should be back soon." Prowl, who had his arms wrapped around a certain white ninja bot, looked over his shoulder plating and up at his leader from his position on the floor,

"Come to think of it," he said, "No one's heard from the twins either. Sentinel sent them on another patrol, and Eli disappeared when we went to go talk to him about how he's overworking the twins. Of course, he didn't listen and slammed the door in our faces…"

"Wait, we?" Optimus questioned, his servos up as he attempted to stop to the ninja from explaining further, "You and who?"

"It was me, Jazz, and Ratchet," he answered, "Come to think of it, Ratchet did appear last just cycles after Eli disappeared…" Heads turned to look for the medibot, but he wasn't in the room. Optimus dismissed himself, heading towards the hallway before making a right. He brought his servo up to knock on the door to the medbay, but it slid open before he could, and the red and white medibot stood in the doorway.

"What is it Prime?" he asked, his tone slightly peeved, "I'm busy…"

"I was just wondering if you knew where Eli went…" Ratchet stood up straighter,

"She isn't back yet?" Optimus shook his head, "What about the twins?" Once more, he shook his head.

"Where is she Ratchet?"

"I told her to follow the twins on their patrol today because Jetfire wasn't doing too good when Sentinel assigned them another megacycle of patrol," the medibot explained, "That way, if something went wrong, she could call me, and I could get to them as quickly as I could."

Checking his internal chronometer, Optimus let out a sigh, "They should be heading back here in a bit. If they're not here in fifteen cycles, we are going out there to look for them." Ratchet nodded. Prime turned around to leave the medibot to his duties when Sentinel stepped into his line of vision, and he was yelling into his comm.-link.

"-you'd better answer right now, or I swear to Primus, I _will_ separate you two glitches for the rest of your function!" He hung up, looking up at the red and blue bot not too far from him, "The twins aren't answering their comm.-links. I think they're just trying to ignore me, so when they get back, they are in a lot of trouble!" Optimus looked over at Ratchet,

"Those two would never ignore you Sentinel," he stated, his gaze still fixed on his medibot, "They are too well trained that they would never do anything like that." He turned his head to the side, catching the other leader's optics on him, "And Jetfire and Jetstorm aren't the only ones not picking up. Eli hasn't been answering her link either…this can't be good." Running down the hallway, back to the main room, he stopped in front of the computers and controls, his digits flying across the keys.

"What's going on bossbot?" Bumblebee asked as he pressed the pause button on the controller in his servos, temporarily stopping his game. Optimus didn't respond and focused on the computer screen as he attempted to locate the three missing bots from their team.

"Optimus, what's wrong?" Prowl was no longer sitting on the floor and was standing by the red and blue robot at the controls, his gaze drifting over the information his leader was typing in.

"Eli and the twins are missing…" Sentinel let out a low groan,

"They aren't missing Optimus," he said, leaning against the doorframe at the entrance to the room, "The twins are just getting back at me by ignoring me, and Eli…well, she's just naturally disobedient, so I would doubt she would ever listen to you. If she had a better leader like me, she'd know better than to disobey…" Prime ground his dental plating before lifting his optics from the keyboard and up at the other Prime in the room.

"Let's assume you're a better leader than me," he reluctantly stated, "That means that the twins would never _dare_ ignore you. You're their leader, remember? We both know these two, and they do everything you ask them to. They would never even think about not answering one of your calls. Something has to be wrong…and if Eli followed them and something _wasn't _wrong, she would answer the transmission, but since she's not…I can only assume something happened out there."

"Found her…" Prowl pointed to the small dot on the screen that had formed over the digital Detroit map, "…but the signal is feint. That only happens when-"

"-the spark is fading," Optimus finished the thought. "We have to go…now!" Everyone nodded, save one very angry leader, "Autobots, transform and roll out!"


End file.
